152 NUDA VERITAS

I did think so.

" Well, you won't! " he said, and his bent shoulders shook
with his ironic chuckles.

Eventually it dawned upon me that Gukovski, and I, that
" we " in fact were going to start on the journey together that
very night. With what relief did I follow the party towards
the station. The night air revived my jaded spirits.

A wagon-de-luxe awaited us. It was most spacious and had
been the Minister of Railway's own before the Revolution.
After a midnight supper of tea and caviare I retired to a per-
fectly good wagon-lit compartment and slept.

It took us from Saturday night until Monday morning to
reach Moscow. The train lingered by the way, the engine was
wood fired. There was a long stop during which we had time
to go for a walk in the woods. Some further hours we waited
at a junction for the Petrograd train to j oin ours. All the while
Gukovski was sardonic and chuckling, he listened to KamenefFs
" plans " for me and made no comment, only his evil little eyes
twinkled with malign mischief. Kameneff told him I would
stay at the Kremlin with his wife who would like me—"won't
she ? " He turned for corroboration to his boy who already
liked me. Alexander nodded and Gukovski chuckled: "Hee,
hee, hee! " and looked at me sideways slyly.

Besides Gukovski, our other companion was the good-
looking Red Army soldier, who sat and smoked with us and ate
with us, and talked and was charming and friendly. He gave
me his ring as a souvenir. I thought he was an officer, but
learnt he was a chauffeur.

On Sunday night, long after I had gone to sleep, Kameneff
knocked at my door (Russians are no respecters of sleep) and
came in to tell me this news:

" A friend of mine, an old school friend, called Zinoviev, has
joined us on the Petrograd train; he tells me that my tele-
gram announcing my arrival with you was delivered in the
middle of a Soviet conference. It caused a great deal of amuse-
ment, but Lenin said that whatever he felt about it there was
nothing to do but to give the artist some sittings, as she had
come so far for the purpose. So there 1 Lenin has consented,
and I thought it worth while to wake you up to tell you 1"